Chocolate Chip Muffins

It has been busy for me, between going to uni and studying...then trying to keep a part of my social life....where does baking fit in??

Today I woke up to the sound of my alarm, my head absolutely killing me and had absolutely no energy...what was wrong with me, had I overdone myself....but I just couldn't push to get myself out of bed, so I sent text a class mate and asked her if she could let the lecturer know that I wasn't well enough to come in today. I felt a little guilty, but the day off has refreshed me quite a bit.....

I also managed to get the hang of making muffins!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

N.B. Chocolate Chips are supposed to be on top as well (Oops)

115g butter
70g caster sugar
2 eggs
215g plain flour
1 tsp. baking powder
125ml milk
170g chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 190oC/Gas Mark 5, lightly grease muffin cases.
2. Cream the butter in a big bowl until soft, add sugar and beat until soft, add one egg at a time while beating in.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder, then fold into the butter mixture, alternatively adding milk.
4. Spoon the batter into the cases, then add chocolate chips, spoon more batter into the cases.
5. Finish by sprinkling chocolate chips over the top.
6. Bake in the oven for 25mins or until golden.

As you can see I forgot to put choc chips on the top...they are like chocolate chip sandwich muffins :D

Cheering myself up with cheese scones

Since making muffins seem to not work for me, I tried my hand at making cheese scones....

I love cheese scones, and I always remember my mum used to make them all the time! Is it sad I have never had one since my mum last made them, which was like over 6 years ago.

I got a recipe a few years back, and kept a hold of it...

Cheese Scones



225g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
55g butter
25g cheese
150ml milk

1. Heat oven to 220 oC/Gas mark 7, lightly grease baking sheet.
2. Mix flour and salt together, then rub into butter.
3. Stir in grated cheese, then milk to get soft dough.
4. Turn the soft dough onto a flour covered work surface and knead.
5. Cut into shapes until dough is used up
6. Brush tops with milk, then bake for 10-12mins until well risen and golden.
   

Second attempt at Blueberry muffins....

Ok, I made a second attempt...

But they turned out worse, go figure....

Oddshaped Blueberry Muffins

I realised that making muffins without a proper muffin tin, I have a cupcake one which is too small :oP So I placed the muffin cases into an oven dish that is used for cooking the likes of chicken or roasts in. This resulted in odd shaped muffins he he.

I haven't tried it just yet, as they are just out of the oven cooling...but I hope they are yummy enough so I can take some up to my fiancé's house tomorrow for his family :) Again, I will allow my dad to try one first of course....as he is my cooked food guinea pig tester he he....his tummy is more cast iron than mine.

I only wanted to use a simple recipe, so here is one I seen.

Blueberry Muffins

200g blueberries
200g plain flour
2 tsp. baking powder
125g caster sugar
175ml milk
2 medium eggs
150ml vegetable oil

Cluttered i know, I had to deal with little space....as there is only one counter that you can use in my kitchen....but I measure everything into separate containers of sorts to make the mixing process a lot faster for myself.

1. Heat the oven to 180 oC/Gas Mark 4, lightly oil muffin cases.
2. Wash the blueberries, and then cut them in half.
3. Sift the flour, and the baking powder into the sugar.
4. In a separate bowl whisk milk, egg and oil in together.
5. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, then slowly but quickly whisk in the liquid mixture until there are no lumpy bits.
6. Fold the berries in as you whisk the mixture.
7. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases.
8. Bake for 25mins or until risen and golden.

This is how my muffins turned out:-


I know they haven't turned out awesomely, but if they taste good......then at least I can feel good about it.

I Want Blueberry Muffins...

I have been thinking about blueberry muffins all morning, I know that my fiancé likes skinny blueberry muffins and I would love to make them...

I just need to find a good recipe :)

My fiancé now calls me Chef Mc Taggart :)

Baking Cakes

Now I have it in my mind, I want to bake cakes...

But we have no cake tins to cook them in *sighs* or ingredients...

So at some point, hopefully on Saturday afternoon I can maybe go a wander through some shops, and hope to buy some bakeware for cheap prices.
Although will start with a simple recipe of some sort as I will be rusty at baking cakes, with the baking gap.

Cooking Is In My Genetics

So spontaneous!

I haven't cooked anything from scratch for years, mainly because in this house I never had to cook nor did i have the right dishes to cook things in. My love for cooking has lain dormant for years, week after week I used to bake when I was younger.

I loved baking cakes! Colourful ones, chocolate ones, small ones, big ones....next to my love of baking I loved making pancakes! They were so yummy, and drool-worthy with caster sugar and lemon juice drizzled all over them.

I mentioned spontaneous...yes, on Saturday I came to the conclusion that i hadn't eaten homemade soup in my house since before my step-mum moved out. Then I had this inspiration to make tattie soup, so at 2pm on the Saturday I called my Nana, as I love her soup...to ask what she put in her tattie soup. After a ten minute conversation of running through the ingredients, and how much of this and that to put in. I set off down town with a small shopping list...Visiting the fruit&veg shop for fresh ingredients, and the butchers for some slice sausage....no I wasn't making stovies as most people keep thinking :P I liked the little chunks of slice sausage in my tattie soup.

Ingredients I used :-

8 medium size potatoes
1/2 small turnip
2 carrots
Leek
4 slice sausage
2 beef stock cubes
Parsley

I filled up 3/4 of the big soup pot with water, put it on medium heat and broke up the slice into small chunks into the water. I also crumbled two beef stock cubes into the water. Once I done that I left it to heat up and prepared my vegetables.

I washed the potatoes and peeled them, then cut them by halving them and cutting the halves into quarters so that they are just a nice size to pop into your mouth. I added these to the pot, and then I washed the carrots and peeled the top layer off them before grating them.
Then I prepared the turnip by washing it, then cutting it into more manageable sized chunks and grated them as well. I added the grated carrot and turnip into the pot, giving the the mixture a stir before I dealt with the leek.
I cut off the dark green ends of the leek, focusing on the pale green part....I gave it a thorough soak under cold water to get rid of any possible soil. I then chopped the leek very finely, and put this into the pot.

Now all the hard work has been done, I left it to cook on a medium/low heat with the lid on...occasionally giving it a stir. I added some salt and black ground pepper as well as some parsley....i cooked it until it looked rather soup like, and the potatoes and meat were tender, seems its ready to serve.

Of course I didn't take the first bite, as I used my dad as a guinea pig....even if he thought it was rather stovies like...but he said that it was cooked rather well.

I agreed when I had a taste myself, yum!

Thinking of getting a tattoo

Its a pretty tattoo dedicated in the memory of my mum who died over 5years ago......

Keane Concert!

Well tonight is the night of the Keane concert that me, Kayleigh and Kenny are going to. We are going for Kayleigh's birthday, Happy Birthday Kay!!!! Also Kay bought me a ticket as an early birthday present he he, so I promised to get her a keane tshirt at the concert so hopefully they have funky ones.
I hope to get some decent photos too!
Mind you, it be brilliant if this cold and cough of mine went away and my somewhat irritated watery eye thats blurry every morning!! Grrrrrr! I will try and have a good time though, Im sure it will be awesome! Concerts always are :)

Oh oh I have a house viewing with Andy next week, so wish us luck :)

More stuff to say

It's been a few weeks since i've babbled on here, mainly because of the situation that happened in my house.

Now its just me and my dad, well until I move out.....but yeah its been nearly 3 weeks since my step mum left, I've had to partially take the role of an adult by helping my dad out when it comes to shopping for food. I must admit Im pretty surprised at how he took all this. I admit I thought he would go absolutely crazy and throw raging fits everywhere....but instead he has been rather depressed.....but he is doing his best I guess..but he will get there....they say time is a healer.

I am still planning to move out, but its not so much a rush now to find a flat, so it means me and Andy can at least find a half decent one. I'm still looking forward to having my own space with Andy. I know there are so many responsibilities...but Im sure we will cope.....I mean you have to move out at some point, don't wanna live with the parents all your life lol.

On a really good note, Andy and I went to Frankie and Benny's to celebrate our first anniversary..I cant believe we are a year already. We had a wonderful meal, and our waiter was amazing, and also a geek who spoke to us about computer games and such after our meal. I hope to get him again when we go back there. But wow....a year as Andy's girlfriend, amazing! I couldn't ask for a better boyfriend....yes thats the mushy soppy Hazo in me talking....I cant help myself!

Well I've ran out of stuff to say in my half asleep self....

Laters